


At Least I'm Trying

by Ali_JT



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Gen, Origin Story, The Dark One (Once Upon a Time)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-01
Updated: 2017-05-01
Packaged: 2018-10-26 09:13:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10783863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ali_JT/pseuds/Ali_JT
Summary: When Devany became the Dark One, she thought she would never have to experience something close to human emotion ever again. Until one day, about eighty years later, when she is walking along the river bank, searching for people weak enough to make a deal.She hears a child crying and, after introducing himself as Rumplestiltskin, he wins his way into her heart.Devany decides she wants to protect him at all costs, but will the Blue Fairy have something different to say about it?





	At Least I'm Trying

The early morning sun graced the Enchanted Forest with its presence as it shone through the leaves and sparkled on the water that twisted its way in between the river banks. It was this type of morning that had prompted the Dark One to go on a walk. Not necessarily for the purpose of enjoyment, for she was looking for perspective "clients", as it were. 

She strode along the path, stopping every so often and rocking back and forth on her heels, her hands placed firmly behind her back, listening for cries of villagers that may have strayed too far from home. Or, in other words, people who were in desperate need of help and were consequently more susceptible to make a deal because of such. 

As she was approaching the point she had previously marked for herself as the sign to turn around and go home, she heard something. It was quiet, but it made her halt, curiosity getting the best of her. After a moment, she realized it was a whimpering- almost as if the person or animal making the noise was crying. She tilted her head to the side and crept to the tree line, gazing down at the small lump that apparently had been making the noise. Clothed in brown with a mop of tousled brown hair atop his head, sat a young boy she guessed to be around six years of age. She scrunched up her nose. 

'What a simply awful haircut,' she thought.

In truth she started to get somewhat excited. She had never made a deal with a child before and, if someone wanted to get into the deep details, hadn’t seen one since she had become the Dark One eighty-four years before. Everyone she had ever dealt with was an adult- boring and only in search of their own happiness. Never in all her years had one person offered up, say, their favorite doll to help their friend. And so she was very happy to see this child crying; she tried to hide her sneaking smile as she crept out of the bushes. 

She was almost silent as she came to stand behind him. Of course, almost isn’t totally, and he heard pebbles shift under her boots. He took in a sharp breath, worried it was his father that had followed him out there, and stood quickly- finding himself square with the Dark One. His eyes raked across her face, taking in her entire presence. Which, even though she was short herself, would have cast a shadow over the young boy if the sun had been just right.  


She had decided the moment he jumped that she was going to let him have the first words. She expected something along the cliché lines of “Who are you?”, “What do you want from me?”, “Leave me alone!”, “Get away!”, etc. 

Instead she got, “Why is your skin shiny?”

He said it with such an immense amount of innocence that she had to actually stop and think. Why was her skin shiny? The simple answer that most would argue was that it was because she was the Dark One. However, she knew the Dark One transfer of power could leave someone relatively normal if it was done through magical means in place of the basic Stab n’ Dash. If that was the case then they would only change on the outside after falling into dark deeds. After taking a moment to sort through all of this, she looked back to him, amazed and slightly impressed that he hadn’t tried to run. He was sincerely waiting for an answer, even though she could tell he was scared. 

“I killed a man,” she said softly. She partially hoped this would deter him from saying anything else, but unbeknownst to her- children have this uncanny way of not being scared. It’s almost as if they can sense when you’re going to hurt them or when you’re not. 

“Oh,” the boy said, seemingly unbothered. Then he asked, “If I kill someone, will my skin be shiny?”

The Dark One pulled a face and felt her eyebrows crease, “There are certain implications that have to take place for your…” she couldn’t believe she was putting it in these terms, “skin to be shiny.”

“Oh,” the boy repeated. 

They were silent for a bit, the Dark One trying to figure out what she should say next. She couldn’t really bust this inquisitive boy with a statement like “Do you want to make a deal?”; the poor lad would probably be so confused that he would shut down completely trying to think of a question to ask next. 

“Where do you live?” She asked and that’s when he got scared.

“I’m not telling you,” he said, beginning to shake his head wildly, “you would make me go back. I don’t want to go back.”

Something tugged at her and she wrote it off as simple curiosity, but it was definitely something more than that. Something that was growing inside her. Affection? Nah.

“Why don’t you want to go back, son?”

The boy became intensely interested in his shoes, “My father hates me.”

Surprised by the answer, she pulled back. She remembered being a teenager and feeling the same way, but, taking in his small body, she knew he was far from being teen age. There must be some merit to his statement, then. Unless it was some big misunderstanding. Maybe the boy was spoiled and was refused a toy, but his clothes refuted that idea. His clothes might be deceptive, though, and he could actually the son of a very wealthy man. Either way, he seemed sweet enough. 

“Why do you think that?” She asked, looking down her nose at him. 

“I made my Mama go away,” he said, still refuses to look at her, “he said I’m the reason we can’t see her ever again.”

“He told you that?” She was disgusted, how dare a father tell a child something as cataclysmic as that was their fault. 

“Yes,” the boy said, finally gazing up to her, “anytime I do a bad thing, he reminds me that I’ve always messed up. He says it’s who I am.”

The Dark One stopped herself for the second time that day from blowing up at the wrong person. If anything, this boy’s father should be bound, gagged, and burned at the stake, but she wasn’t going to tell this poor child that. As she sat stewing, he sat watching. 

He noticed she had retreated behind her eyes, probably going over thoughts that no young human should know. He sensed that she was older than she looked, even with the shiny skin. He also figured this wasn’t her usual pattern- helping boys in the woods. Although there was an air of danger about her, he trusted her. Almost completely, in the way only young children could. 

“What’s your name?” He asked.

“Devany,” she answered, hesitating for only a moment before doing so, “What about you? What’s your name?”

“Rumplestiltskin,” the boy said.

‘Odd name,’ she thought as he smiled up at her. 

“Do you have a nickname?” She said, not wanting to say Rumplestiltskin over and over again. She was hoping for something short and sweet, something that would be easy to yell out if she ever needed to warn him of hazardous situations. She shook her head; why was she thinking like this? She just met this kid and she was acting as if they were to be lifelong friends. Which was impossible, especially for someone like her. 

“Rumple,” he said, and then with a note of pride, “I’m six.”

“Are you?” She felt a grin stretch her lips; something felt right about this. It was the uncanny way fate had about it, it could push you in the correct direction, but maybe not the way you expected.

**Author's Note:**

> This is something I woke up with in my head after last night's episode. Should I keep writing on it? Has it caught your interest?


End file.
